With his come from behind performance against Gray Maynard at UFC 136, lightweight champion Frankie Edgar has quickly become one of the more inspirational figures in the sport, so much so that last night, he was called upon by the always inconsistent New York Jets to provide some much needed inspiration heading in to their Monday night match against their long time rival, the Miami Dolphins. Despite making it to the AFC championship game the past two years in a row, the Jets have started the year with a less than stellar 2-3 record, and are in desperate need of a win against the 0-4 Dolphins, who have won their last 3 road games against the Jets.

(Rex Ryan: a jowly, unkempt Johnny Cash for the modern age.)

If you watched the Showtime broadcast of Strikeforce: Miami on Saturday night then you probably saw the cageside interview with New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, where his comments were partially drowned out by the chorus of boos from the Florida crowd. Or, if you got up to make yourself a sandwich and wonder why they hadn’t opted to try and squeeze in another fight from the undercard, maybe you missed it altogether. Regardless, the crowd at the BankAtlantic Center had more verbal abuse in store for Ryan throughout the night, and at some point he evidently got fed up and resorted to that great intellectual equalizer, the obscene gesture. This was naturally followed by the media storm, and ensuing hollow apology, all within just a little over 24 hours.

Fifty years ago, if Bear Bryant had gone to a boxing match and responded to a fan’s jeering with a middle finger, one gets the sense that it would not have been news. For one, nobody would have been there to snap a picture with their cell phone. For another, the fan on the receiving end of the finger would probably have just been glad to get away without being punched in the mouth.

But we live in a different era. Ryan has already apologized for the gesture, calling it “stupid and inappropriate,” and the Jets have issued a statement on it. There’s also a very real possibility that he’ll face a fine from the NFL as a result of all this, though his players seem to think it was pretty awesome: